Alpaca fibre, often touted as the new luxury, has been on my radar a while, but as a fibre with such foreign roots, it has had to remain a distant thought. A few weeks ago however, I was fortunate enough to be invited to Arequipa, Peru to improve my knowledge of its most prominent export and meet some of the country's top spinning mills.

States, businesses, and global civil society must take action to neutralise this pandemic of violence and threats and to integrate a human rights approach into the interactions between the state, business, and civil society. Environmental human rights defenders cannot continue to be collateral damage for the share prices of multinationals or the whims of government.

Have you ever spoken to a surfer about why they surf? They will tell you that once you get into it there is no turning back. As someone who has never donned a wetsuit or waxed a board, I never really appreciated the significance of a surfer's relationship with the ocean and how this can influence their broader view of the world. Then I met the team at EcoSwell in Peru.

People are angry with President Humala, who they say is in the pocket of Southern Copper: 'Our politicians are corrupt. The president refuses to listen to the protestors because he and others take bribes from the mine'. Another passer-by blames the government: 'My two boys are policemen. The government should make Southern Copper leave. Instead, Humala makes us kill each other.'

The Inca Trail is one of the most famous treks in the world. But there other similarly beautifully, equally challenging routes that lead to the magnificent Machu Picchu. If you don't know about them, read on to see five alternative ways to reach the enchanted 15th-century Sacred Valley of the Incas.

In 2007 Peru established two oil and gas concessions, Lot 135 and Lot 137, totalling almost 1.5 million hectares and contracted a Canadian company, Pacific Rubiales Energy, to operate there. This means that more than half of the western boundary of the Javari reserve borders Peruvian oil and gas concessions.

There's a revolution going on outside the halls of the UN's COP 20 climate change talks in Lima, Peru. Industry is taking action on climate change. People are taking to the streets. The weather is changing...

Do you think indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Amazon would eat a group of Americans? Do you think that 'un-contacted tribes', as you have been reported to call them, in particular would eat a group of Americans? If the answer is yes to either of these questions, can you explain why you think that?